Breezy

Reclaiming space

My friend and I are supposed to have riding lessons on Saturday. It’s supposed to rain Friday night and part of Saturday morning, so there is a chance things will be too wet to ride. Before my ride, my friend suggested maybe we could haul our horses to my instructor’s barn and use her indoor arena. This would normally seem like a perfectly reasonable solution since Breezy has had her first trailering lesson...

Continue reading...

Riding through grief

Grief does weird things to your head. It makes you feel fragile, as if any little thing might make you react in a way that might not be appropriate to the situation. That first week after Kasane died, I visited with Breezy a lot. Mostly just stood out in her field with her or groomed her. Just to be near my girl but not putting myself into a situation where I might not...

Continue reading...

Breezy’s ride on 30 Dec 2019

My riding instructor has been riding Breezy once or twice a week since Kasane isn’t ready for lessons yet. We opted to put Kasane’s lesson and ride times towards Breezy. These rides have been a tremendous help for Breezy. She’s learning how to canter with someone who has far more confidence than me when cantering. This confidence is so important for a green horse. And Breezy looks so cute! Her trot has come...

Continue reading...

Riding lesson joy with Kasane and Breezy

It has been a long road with Kasane’s various leg issues and our lesson today felt like a triumph over all of those things. She was bouncy, had hang time in her trot, picked up her canter leads really well. She just felt great. It was one of our most exciting lessons just for the sheer joy of riding her. My mom was there and thankfully recorded some snippets of our lessons. Kasane’s...

Continue reading...

Playing catchup

Life has been hectic, to say the least. The new job I started in January has been good, but it’s a lot more time and focus than my previous gig. Also more travel: I’ve visited Miami, Malaga in Spain, and soon San Francisco. No complaints. It is fun and interesting work, if a bit stressful and chaotic. Combine work with riding and gaming, and well, that’s my week without too much time set...

Continue reading...

Long time no type

It’s been a very long, muddy winter. And fall, and most of the previous summer too. I had a curious confluence of events that kept me feeling slightly overwhelmed. You know, that feeling where you are juggling everything but can not add one more ball to the mix without dropping everything. So I didn’t blog. I have a lot of things to write about, including Kasane, Breezy, kitties, old job, new job, more...

Continue reading...

Breezy has her first rides

Saddle trial achievement unlocked! This past weekend, my friend helped me put the initial ride on Breezy. And today, we had our third ride in her new saddle. We’re taking things really easy. Our rides are 10-15 minutes max. She’s starting off in the rope halter because she’s currently teething. I ask her for a few steps and turns and whoas. All very easy. She was superb. I’m so happy with her. The...

Continue reading...

Ms Breezy gets a saddle of her own

A friend of mine is helping me get Breezy ready for her first ride. I’ve done all of the basics: ground driving, bitting, saddling, and the like. I’ve leaned on her back, put weight in the stirrup, and she’s been like “Oh hi, what are you doing?” No panics, no worries, just accepting that her human is doing weird things. When I was starting Kasane, I did not know a lot about saddle...

Continue reading...

Long, slow summer of the Mares

It’s been a long, slow summer. For the past few weeks, I’ve felt like I was holding my breath waiting for Kasane to reinjure herself. She hasn’t. But she might try, like the times she put her back feet through the stall wall and almost needed stitches. (She demolished that wall when she rolled in the stall and got cast.) I’ve had three mares to work with: Kasane’s rehab cycle (3-5 rides per...

Continue reading...

Meet VCL Breeahva

The weekend of March 20th, Mom and I went up to see her stallion, Cedars Mojave, in Culpepper, Virginia, and then drove up to see one of his fillies, VCL Breeahva (aka Breezy). Breezy was a hoot. She’s a late baby, so even though by the Arabian Registry standards she is counted as a two year old, she won’t be two until June. The first time I saw her, she was in the...

Continue reading...